JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS – AND ROSE AGAIN!!

Welcome to my first post of the year – I wish everybody many blessings for 2013! One of my new year’s resolutions is to ditch the alliteration – I doubt it will be missed.

Today I want to talk about “the other half” of God’s great provision for us. Not only did Jesus die for our sins, he also rose again on the third day. I have to admit that I often place less emphasis on the resurrection than I do on the crucifixion, because I am so focused on Jesus dying in my place.

This is a mistake on my part. The apostle Paul deals with the resurrection quite extensively in his first letter to the Corinthians, as well as in some of his other letters in the Bible. He places it quite clearly on the same level as the crucifixion in terms of importance, if not even higher. As far as I can see, he makes two main points.

First, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, he failed to deliver on a promise. He is quoted in John 2:19 as saying “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The passage goes on to say that he was referring to his body. After his death, his enemies the chief priests and Pharisees showed that they knew what he meant, by saying to Pontius Pilate “Sir, we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said ‘After three days I will rise again’ …” (Matthew 27:63) and making plans to try and make sure he didn’t. So had Jesus not risen on the third day, he would have been lying, and therefore could not be God. Dang, there goes Christianity, up in a puff of smoke.

Secondly, that Jesus’ resurrection is the prototype for our own resurrection. The Bible verse for this post is I Corinthians 15:20: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” By dying, he defeated sin. By rising again, he defeated death. We benefit from both of those victories when we die – if we believe in him, we will also rise again, and our sin will be removed from us, we will be perfected.

This is where I get my belief that there is life after death, that there is a heaven (Paul goes on to talk about “the man of heaven” and “those who are of heaven.”), and that believers will be given resurrection bodies (as Jesus was). Like our spiritual state, our physical state will also be perfected – if you’re like me, you’re looking forward to having the increasingly large number of parts that no longer work 100%, reconditioned. It sounds a lot more real and a lot more fun than the disembodied spirits and playing harps on a fluffy cloud that are often used to poke fun at the idea of heaven.

I believe that the truth of Christianity promises real eternal joy and fellowship with God – “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Verse 54.

And it started with Jesus rising again on the third day.

God bless, Chris